Far-right AfD aims to achieve more than 40% in German regional vote

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has set a target of 40% or more of the vote for the elections to the regional state parliament in Saxony on September 1.

"It is possible that we will govern alone in Saxony," AfD General Secretary Jan Zwerg said at the election campaign launch in the capital of Saxony, Dresden. From now on, his party will be going on the hunt, he said.

In the European elections, the AfD became the strongest party in Saxony with 31.8%.

Opinion polls for the state election currently show a neck-and-neck race with the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) - with a slight lead for the AfD.

Top candidate Jörg Urban spoke of a tailwind for the state election. "Here in the east, here in Saxony, we can make a breakthrough," he told his supporters. His party no longer wants to be in opposition, but wants to govern, he said.

"We don't want a piece of the cake, we want the bakery," Urban said.

The Saxon AfD state association is categorized by Saxony's domestic intelligence agency as a confirmed far-right extremist movement. The party is fighting this legally.